Mike Randolph announces closure of Little Country Gentleman

The run for Little Country Gentleman is coming to an end. “Just couldn’t make it work,” said restaurateur Mike Randolph via text message, regarding the imminent closure of the evening concept that he operates at 8135 Maryland Ave., in Clayton. Randolph shared the news this afternoon on the restaurant’s Facebook page. LCG will continue with regular service until Dec. 31, followed by a few special dinners and a final farewell party Jan. 11.

“We have very adventurous food. We wanted to push the envelope, but there didn’t seem to be enough takers for the style of food we were doing,” said LCG beverage director Daniels Blake-Parseliti, who said Randolph informed LCG staff about the decision to close earlier this week. Randolph confirmed most of the staff will take positions with his other restaurants, breakfast-and-lunch spot Half & Half and pizzeria The Good Pie.

Half & Half, which shares space with Little Country Gentleman, will not be closing. “Business is as good as it’s ever been,” said Blake-Parseliti about Half & Half, which opened in June of 2011. A few months later, Randolph unlocked the space in the evening with an avant garde Mexican concept, Medianoche. In July 2012, he swapped Medianoche for Little Country Gentleman, which Sauce reviewed in last January.

While the news is disappointing to fans of LCG’s modern Midwestern cuisine and drinks, Randolph won’t be sitting idle. He’s in the midst of readying the space at 6665 Delmar Blvd., to become the home of The Good Pie, which he is relocating from its original spot in Midtown. He expected to open the pizzeria in mid-January. In addition, he noted that he may extend Half & Half hours into the evening, but said that would not happen until The Good Pie is off and running in the new space. “We’re going to work on one project at a time,” he said.